I was up there from Providence with my buddy Scott. We stopped in a state park along the way and pulled out our guitars to jam a bit and had our own “test me test me” moment with the park police as they ran my plates! In any case yes the first set blazes like a white light. Start of the second is cool too - especially that Cumberland! But after the drums things unravel a bit - Jerry has lost his edge - the Throwing Stones is notably difficult. All in all the show is very good, and I know I had a great time. Amazing that 35! years later I can listen to a high fidelity version on my hand-held computer (iPhone) - warts and all. (But then again that imperfection is part of the overall beauty of the Grateful Dead experience.) I’m still on the bus getting my daily dose from The Archive - we are so lucky - love the On This Day feature - always something new popping up - especially shows I was lucky enough to attend.

If memory serves me, this is the first Bertha after Jerry got busted in Golden Gate Park. It seems a cop was driving by, when he noticed expired registration tags on a BMW that was parked on the side of the road. As he approached he smelt something burning and saw Jerry hide something. Jerry ends up getting busted for possession.
You'll notice during Bertha the band jams a little harder, and the crowd goes wild after the lines; "Test me test me, why don't you arrest me? Throw me in the jailhouse, till the sun goes down."
Now you know why.

Can't acknowledge the earlier "iffy" reviews re the 2nd set. Seriously...if you were there ...you had a great Grateful Dead experience! Small crowd in a small town civic center and the Dead were on fire. I was just a teen in the first row in front of Jerry (a bit towards Bobby --my first time feeling "the" spit!) and they were amazing. I was so close the stage volume was tremendous...especially Bobby's guitar. Not many venues you can truly lean on the stage....but Springfield was an exception with it's easy going general admission floor policy. It was the smallest venue I'd seen them in and it was very intimate and cool.
Jerry's voice:
YES it struggled throughout '85 ...and that's a fact...
..but it doesn't mean he was singing "out of key" as an earlier poster wrote. His voice was "blowing out" ...not out of tune. There's a difference if you know music theory (I'm a musician and teacher). The passion is ALL there and '85 is one of my favorite years. Only gave it four stars because of the tough competition of '85 (I believe someone else wrote that too! :)). Althea is very "sneaky" IMHO...Deal smokes(!)...AND Spoonful
Is hauntingly accurate (as we now know!). Howlin' Wolf/Dixon knew their stuff! Jerry and Brent during Fantasy are awesome and the song is rare for that year.
BTW, IMHO the spaces in '85 (pre-midi) are all exceptional!
The second night was good as well but I'll save my review for that show.
I hope you ENJOY this show and CHEERS to GD in 1985!!!

I think heads on the east coast loved the extreme high energy shows and crowds going nuts all night long. I on the other hand prefer those shows almost complete opposite , rather the spacey controlled pace the boys could switch from. I am from east coast... but saw them all over this country close to 500. Look at Boise and Lake Placid for example those are spacey jamming shows with just the rite energy , highs and lows. Another example would be Pittsburg civic 7 6 1987 ENERGY Shakedown > Sampson the aiko day O Drums and then switch to a super mellow Knocking on Heavens Door out space. Love it just like that. They knew they couldn't go threw roof every night each tour had its ups and downs. Yes they were their to perform that 1 givin nite but they had a entire tour to play. Good Example is Richmond in 83 when Bobby says relax we have a whole long tour. Before the encore U S Blues.
As far as the comments go on Jerry's voice / playing, this is what made this band so good. Take the Sampson intro Bobs mic isn't working yet so Jerry belts out the first line. Another thing I love is the flow they could go threw SMOKING HOT ENERGY To mellow Jazzy spacey jams. To me that's what made the substances people were on enjoy the music al the more highs and lows ups and downs, Kind of like tripping in the comfort of all your friends then someone having to run to the store for something . Reality set in. Just my analogy of how this band we love played night in night out.

I am always am struck - given what was going on in Jerry's life (that we now know about) when reviewers write that Jerry's voice sounded terrible. I think he sounds decent - certainly there are songs where he is not on key singing. But his guitar playing was great in '85.

Anyway, someone below wrote about the intangibles of this 2nd set. Normally an equip failure (Weir's mic for first verse of Samson) is not a way to kick off a set. But the crowd roars when he can finally be heard.
More significantly, the Cumberland>He's Gone>Spoonful seem smokey - if you will. I remember getting this bootleg about a month later and finding this combo to be spine tingling.
Definitely not a Jerry ballad after drumz - but still a solid '85 show.
4 stars b/c this imho is a stellar year and the competition is fierce.

I have no idea what "corby112" was listening to. This second set rocks. And the whole show is sick. Jerry is up and loud and roaring. The boys are having so much fun playing this great little venue and the East Coast crowd is through the roof. He's Gone > Spoonful > Drums in particular is 5 star. It just melds perfectly from Dead to Blues to Jazz. The Spoonful outro jam segues into an amazing Balafon laden Rhythm Devils segment. The Dear Mr. Fantasy was one of the best they every played, executed perfectly, and a rarity for 1985.

The energy of this show rises.. and crushes. Leading up to a huge, perfect, blistering Throwing Stones > Not Fade Away combo to slam close the second set.

I honestly believe "corby112" listened to this right before nappy time and injected his own subjective lethargy into his review. How exactly does "Jerry disappear" but you say his leads are "still enthusiastic"? Huh? Your review makes no sense.

I saw 142 Grateful Dead shows between 1984 and 1995 and this was one of the most fun, energetic, crowd interactive, good time shows I saw out of all of them. The Springfield Civic was packed to the roof, the crowd was up, the boys were having a blast, the song selection is terrific and the energy throughout is top notch.

This night is exactly what Robert Hunter meant when he wrote "Steal Your Face Right Off Your Head".

This is a decent show with an excellent 1st set but Jerry pretty much disappears vocally in the second set. He only sings two songs and the U.S. Blues encore. This is unfortunate because he sounds really good during the first set, delivering excellent versions of Bertha, Althea, Ramble on Rose and Deal. His voice is in top form and his playing is very enthusiastic. The whole set features songs that are flushed out with extended jams. Even Mexicali gets a nice workout.

Unfortunately the second sets loses a lot of steam starting with a plodding Samson in which Bobby's mic is turned off for the first verse or so. The energy isn't there but Jerry's leads are still enthusiastic. A rare Cumberland amps things up slightly and features some nice harmonizing and group play. Women Smarter is very energetic and one of the highlights of the set. The He's Gone>Spoonful is a nice combo but lacks energy. Mr. Fantasy stats the post Space jam off nicely but it quickly segues into a standard Throwing Stones>NFA. It's a shame that the energy from the first set fades as the evening progresses.

Seemed to be the other way around to me (set 1 as the winner). First set was wild, thick with energy, and second set was pretty good too. Excellent Oade rec.

this show is a hooot ! jerry is fast & clean on everything.it's great show for two reasons i went with a group of friends[they were first timers] good show for them and any other 1st timers.every song seemed to flow into the next,for the rest of us very,very,entertaining.dance and twirl.because the next nite was a good ole meeting of the tribe[i've been saying that for years] great way to set up a two nite gig..

out of the 100+ to come (3x5 cards only or your order will not be filled!!!). The begining of my first "tour". The bus came by and I got on and changed everything. This was fine show to get all the joints oiled. Fantastic memories of this run. Looking back on the years 83(first show)>95. I was glad to have really cut my teeth with GD in 85. A fine year. Love Jerry's tone during this time. Straight up clean. Thanks Oade's and all the other tapers for capturing all this great GD and Archiving here for all of us to enjoy. Yeah, trading is fun but so is instant satisfaction. Fun show. Spring/Summer 85 is all worth a listen.

3.5 show
4.0 recording

I had this show for years. First set is pretty good but the second has something to it. can't put my finger on it because there are no best of's, but if anyone can put into words why this is a pretty decent show I'd appreciate it. I listen to it every once in a while and it works.

I love it when Jerry would stay out and lend a few Jerry notes to the beginning of drums. It's nice here and check out 3/31/85 for a real treat like that

The set 2 has unique song selection and really inspired playing. give it a listen.

There is no reason not to get all of Oade's recordings from '85. No doubt these guys knew what they were doing; This recording isn't quite as good as the some of ones from the next week or so, but still very listenable . Hopefully there will be some of his gems when they put up '84 on the archive. Not to mention pretty much the entire March/April run of '85 is worth listening to and in my opinion some of the best of the decade.